3 Months Later,
The clamorous echo of steel on ice rang throughout Hearthflame.
On Librais 17, 1237,
Coal was found for the first on the Northern Continent.
In the Snow Marble Manor
"I told you Head Butler, that we'd strike coal." I said
"Of course my liege, and do remember that the Valentine family is about to arrive here in Hearthflame." He responded
"Oh, they're finally going to move in, that's nice, yet it also sucks that the annual Baron meeting is also about to commence, so sadly I will only be able to greet them briefly."
I've also wondered about this 'Lumie Valentine' that fake was talking about. I also wonder what she looks like, after all I only remember that banquet at the former Valentine estate briefly.
"Head Butler, I have had concerns lately due to the size of my Valentine household that I may have forgotten certain members names and relations, it would not be a good look for a Baron to do so."
"Yes, of course, master. I will write up a detailed chart for you."
A few hours later my great head butler gave me two documents, one on the family tree and another was on something I asked him about previously, detailed information on the other Barons of Avantgarde for when I attend that meeting next week. After memorizing the family tree, I looked at the other document.
Let's see here, Baroness Dominique Lacroix, black hair and golden eyes. Likes to dress formerly in a suit, which includes her gilded black gloves and dress shoes, even when in informal situations. Strangely wears capes. Carries a black rapier on her side. Is big on matching her color scheme with her hair and eyes. Refuses to wear anything that isn't black and gold. Unknown authority which is suspected to make things disappear. Supposedly linked to the Blazing Hellfire of Blaire, although that statement is blasphemous.
Baron Mathis Rosario, black medium-length hair and black eyes fitted with thin half-glasses, dresses in dark robes, like he just graduated from a high-end university. Much like Baroness Lacroix, is adamant on not wearing a different style of clothing. Sometimes is found wearing a graduation cap. Always somehow holds a sealed scroll on him, when asked by Marquess Cisneros to put it down, it magically found its way back to him after the Marquess secretly tried to confiscate it. Unknown authority which is suspected to be tied with numbers and rules.
Baron Nathaniel Ezekiel, Most normal looking. Light brown hair and silver-gray eyes. Unlike the other Barons, he can be commonly confused with a good-looking commoner. Wears good but not expensive clothing. Is known to wear anything as long as it carries a certain degree of decency. Doesn't wear any sort of accessories commonly associated with the ascended apart from a neck pendant of faded jade. Neither does he hold any special items of note. Duke White has once stated that Baron Ezekiel can do some sort of manipulation on reality, although it is also said that Duke White stated that his claim cannot be proven.
Baroness Alexis Cervantes, loose tan-colored hair and light golden eyes, dresses in a scarlet shirt and pants under an unbuttoned tan trench coat tied with a loose belt strip of matching color at the waist. Unlike Baroness Lacroix, she has been seen wearing different colors underneath her trench coat. Although Baroness Cervantes seems to prefer the scarlet red. Carries a seemingly unlimited amount of tan unmarked pocketbooks and light-colored feathered quills. Due to this fact, her authority is suspected to have something to do with those books.
I'm proud of you Amber. You really went above and beyond with this. The amount of info hidden within these descriptions is almost limitless.
Let's start with Baroness Lacroix, she seems to have a very similar fashion sense to myself.
What does this us about her?
It tells me that we may share a very similar aspect of our personality, our ego as ascended.
This informs me that we both aim to embody a force rather than a person. We both see ourselves as some sort of god in comparison to the mortals, so we feel the need to always dress distinctly, to show them that difference.
I don't know about her outward personality but I can tell you that inside she feels as superior as she really is.
It also stated that she can make things disappear.
With the infinite array of conceptual powers that may or may not exist, I can't cognize her exact authority from such a limited description.
But what I can do is attempt to use this to discern certain aspects of her personality, of course such a conjecture is supported by the theory that your ascension ritual and personality is what forms the rules of your authority.
My case may support this idea, but I don't know much about others, after all my situation may be nothing but a mere coincidence.
Assuming that making things disappear is truly a facet of her authority and presuming that my theory is indeed correct, there are two major personality routes she will most likely follow.
These routes are dependent of whether she truly makes things vanish from existence or if she steals them, taking the items away to her own personal dominion.
If they vanish from existence entirely you can say that she is someone who is very dictative and judging, that she uses her ego as a godlike existence to claim that things she doesn't like should not exist.
On the other hand, if she's stealing or taking these objects into a realm, she most likely has a more greedy and prideful personality, yet not necessarily a mean one.
Now to deconstruct Baron Rosario, things that stand out to me in his description are his clothes, scroll, and of course Marquess Cisneros. I thi-
My thoughts were interrupted,
"Patriarch! The Valentine house's carriage has arrived!"
I smiled gently at my butler, "Then let us go greet them."
I arrived at the front gate and was immediately hugged by my mother.
"Vani! I missed you so much! Look how much you've grown! Aww!"
My mother was ever so slightly shorter then I was, which was saying something.
I looked around at my albino family.
It seems we all have taken on the Valentine family's curse: to not grow beyond five feet.
Well, at least no one's truly a midget. Yet 5''10 is still a no go. After all their patriarch was only 5''7 himself, and I'm on the taller side.
"I missed you to, Mom." I said
Runia Valentine, my mother. Short like me, waist long hair albino characteristics, and red dress wearing.
Moving on to my sister, Lumie Valentine. Looks like the rest of us. Hair slightly longer than mine. Wearing a white dress, but far less sophisticated than mom's dress.
"Oh, where's father?" I asked
"He won't be here for the next few days, he had a surprise work-related thing come up."
I don't like the sound of that. I'm the official patriarch not him. You shouldn't try to hide the smallest things from me, Runia Valentine.
I gave a smile, "Oh, I see. It's a shame he can't make it then. I hope he will arrive before I have to set off for the annual Baron meeting."
"No, I'm sure he will be back before then, Vani." My mother said
"So I can expect him here before the end of this week?" I questioned
"Huh?" My mother brainlessly let out
"The annual Baron meeting of Avantgarde is in a week mother, or more specifically I have to leave in a week." I reminded her
She looked at me with a shocked sadness, "Oh. I guess you won't be catching your father then. Sorry Vani."
"It's okay." I laughed and smiled
Upon gazing upon my smile, my immediate family members showed a forlorn expression.
My smile faded.
I'm pretty sure I know what this is about. At least this means I'm somewhat believable.
"Well, I have some paperwork to get to, so I'll see you for dinner." I said, leaving before they could respond.
I didn't actually do any paperwork in my office, but instead listened to their conversation.
As an Ascended I could pretty much hear any conversation happening in this manor if I tried hard enough.
As much as I enjoy chaos, I don't like to meaninglessly appear suspicious. It's up to the way their conversation goes in, on weather I douse the flames or suffocate them.
"Ah." My mother sighed, "I known Jeane said that her daughter was different after ascending, but this is just too much, right?"
My sister looked at the marble floor, "That smile, it isn't brothers'."
"I know, Lumie, I know. It's scary, but I'm sure it will be fine." My mother consoled
My sister sounded like she was about to cry, not because my mother words comforted her, but because they didn't.
The sound of grasping hands could be heard.
"Listen, Lumie, the world is a scary place because the world is an unknown and mysterious place. Tragedy is rampant and salvation is few between. When everyone was born they were like trees uprooted, drifting through space. Upon our birth our home was ripped from us, so we cling to others in order to establish a new home. Whether it's a mother and a daughter; a father and a son, it doesn't matter, we bind ourselves to those relationships because without them there is no ground to stand on. Relationships are important and Vanitas is your brother. We, like trees which cling together in a world of no soil, are supported by those familial relations. So just because your brother got loose, doesn't mean we get to let go."